Along the river and toward the mountains a morning shadow shimmers across the road. The rays of the first light jet through the trees and across a figure gliding upon the road. His breath trails in short spurts, petrified as it hits the icy air. All is quiet except the slight sound of the athlete as he summons himself for yet another days work. Soon the rest of the world will bustle with life as well and the brief simplicity of cyclist and nature will disappear into the everyday struggle of life in full motion; the errands and intervals, the appointments and intersections, and the deadlines and finish lines OutPaceTheRace

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Kauai- day 6 & 7

Just me and my shadow... A welcome change to just me and the rain. The "Pacific Missile Base" at the end of the island. No trespassing or unauthorized radio transmissions... The top of the island, great view eh? Wait...! I think I see something... The 18th and last mile of the climb to the top of the island. A MASSIVE crevice, or should I say canyon, on the side of the road. I'd be content if I saw this and never saw the Grand Canyon. This thing is easily as impressive as the Grand Canyon, just don't fall off. The Canyon & I again... Walla Walla Washington. No, seriously. Okay, okay... it's the Waimia side of the island.

Kapuu, Kauai, HITuesday, November 28, 2006

Where’d global warming go? It sounds like its left Seattle for the moment. I know the media’s hyp’n up all the “storm” coverage n’ stuff in the area like the ice age is set to return or something, but I’ve a lil’ hunch that it’s not quite as severe as they’re say’n it is. My bet is that life hasn’t yet come to a standstill just because a few school districts have given in to the hype… but who am I to speak on the subject? It’s not like I’m liv’n large in Kauai or anything…In an attempt to get to the hill in time to ride the last stretch to the end of the island and still ride up Waimia Canyon and up to the top of the mountain, I decided to go ahead and drive into Waimia. The Waimia side of the island is pretty lame; it’s sort of like a desert, similar to Walla Walla without the penitentiary. Waimia Canyon Drive is one beast of a road… I was in my 27 and still cranking on some of the sections, it was unbelievable. I thought only Maui had a hill like this (and Hawaii of course, however…), but I’ve never seen one like this. Every time you get to think’n that you’re over the last pitch there’s another one that’s longer and steeper. On Maui it’s slightly different; the pitch stays the same for the entire 10,000 feet. On Kauai the pitch varies continuously until the top at 4200 feet. It was nice, just like in Maui at the top, you could see all of 10 feet ahead of you. Rather spectacular really. Kauai was 18 miles to the top; Maui was 42 miles to the top. To complete the ride I ended up riding to the end of the island from Waimia, then back to Waimia and up the climb, back down the climb to Waimia and over to the end of the island and back to Waimia… 4 hours total…So this is my last hour on the island before riding back to the hotel and catching the taxi over to the airport. I actually intend to hit up the local Safeway for some sleep potion before the hotel. That'll be key in making the most of the flight home. In the meantime I'm spending the last hour in the hippy cafe utilizing their free internet.